Joe Stafford
Director of Animal Services
Joe joined the Animal Rescue League of Iowa team in March 2019 as the Director of Animal Services. In this role, Joe oversees the Des Moines Animal Services program, which includes working with a diverse staff that care for all of the homeless and unwanted animals of the City and the Animal Services Officers who are in the community advocating for public safety and animal welfare on a daily basis. Joe also is responsible for ARL’s Community Outreach programs, which includes the Animal Welfare Intervention (Animal Cruelty Investigations and Disaster Response), Trap Neuter and Return, Vet Assistance, Public Spay and Neuter, Crisis Foster, and low to no cost vaccination programs.
Joe came to the ARL from the Humane Society of Pikes Peak Region where he was the Director of Animal Law Enforcement from 2010 until 2019. With this role he directed and managed a staff of over 45 animal law enforcement officers (ACO’s) and others that served a 5,600 square mile area with approximately 1.3 million human residents and more than 700,000 companion animals. His division handled over 45,000 calls for service annually; which included over 4,250 cases of animal welfare concern.
Prior to Joe being at the Humane Society of Pikes Peak he was the Field Services Manager in Centennial, Colorado and Douglas County, Colorado. Joe was also the President of the Colorado Association of Animal Control Offices for seven years; served as a board member for the Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund for three years and served on the Legislative Committee for the Colorado Federation of Animal Welfare Agencies for two years.
Joe holds National and State certifications in numerous areas, such as:
- Nationally Certified Animal Control Officer—National Animal Control Officers Association
- Nationally Certified Humane Investigator—University of Missouri-Columbia Law Enforcement Training Institute
- Nationally Certified Equine Investigator—University of Missouri-Columbia Law Enforcement Training Institute
- Colorado Certified Animal Control Officer—Colorado Association of Animal Control Officers
- Commissioned Companion, Small Animal, and Equine Investigator—Colorado Department of Agriculture
- Technical Animal Rescue Specialist—Code 3 Associates
- Pet First Aid—American Red Cross
Joe is also a veteran who served in the United States Air Force as a Law Enforcement Specialist and Training Manager. In this role, he provided law enforcement services as well as directed, planned, and conducted numerous training programs responsible for education and training of over 8,000 students annually from five military bases in the Pikes Peak Region and Air Force Cadets.